Damning Internal Yahoo Memo Leaked

An internal Yahoo memo, created by SVP Brad Garlinghouse has been leaked to the public. It’s a strong call-to-action aimed at CEO Terry Semel, and accuses the company of being the victim of many problems and missteps.

Criticisms include:

A lack of focus and unified vision for Yahoo…

…I’ve heard our strategy described as spreading peanut butter across the myriad opportunities that continue to evolve in the online world. The result: a thin layer of investment spread across everything we do and thus we focus on nothing in particular.

A lack of accountability and ownership…

…For far too many employees, there is another person with dramatically similar and overlapping responsibilities. This slows us down and burdens the company with unnecessary costs.

Yahoo’s lack of decisive action…

…Combine a lack of focus with unclear ownership, and the result is that decisions are either not made or are made when it is already too late.

One of the most damming comments, comes mid-way through the memo.

We have lost our passion to win. Far too many employees are “phoning” it in, lacking the passion and commitment to be a part of the solution. We sit idly by while — at all levels — employees are enabled to “hang around”. Where is the accountability? Moreover, our compensation systems don’t align to our overall success. Weak performers that have been around for years are rewarded. And many of our top performers aren’t adequately recognized for their efforts.

Garlinghouse concludes his memo with an outline of changes and improvements that he believes should be implemented.

It’s a compelling read. Let’s hope it acts as a wake-up call to Yahoo and not as a pink-slip for Garlinghouse.